Overlap: The Heart of Happiness. An Evidence-Based Recipe for Joy, Meaning, & Life Satisfaction Paperback – June 24, 2023

This book is written very well and is very, very interesting. It provides many interesting theories and concepts. It also provides some self/personal exploration and the activities that helps someone to understand such experiences. Overall, a truly great read and I highly recommend this book!!! 👍😶‍🌫️🤯

I love this book! It presents a practical and insightful way to living a full and happy life. Dr. Petersen has drawn on research from so many sources and his own experiences and put them together to form one concept - Overlap. It is very easy to read with a lot of practical ideas and actions you can use to improve your life, even if you don’t feel like you are experiencing depression or anxiety. It’s a must read!

This is such a great book! I highly recommend it! The idea of “Overlap” really speaks to me and since reading it I have been more conscious of how I engage with all things living. It is packed with wisdom, research and lived experience and has really changed the way I approach my life, relationships and the natural world around me. I have bought copies to share with friends because I think we can all benefit from engaging with life at a deeper level.

This book takes us on a journey to discover the ultimate path to finding happiness. The author first talks about all the ways he's tried, and failed, to find happiness, and then shares this idea that he's come up with called Overlap. He says that the most important thing with regard to being happy is to "overlap" with living things. He describes it like snorkeling... you can drive by the ocean without looking, or sit on the beach and observe, or maybe wade and get your feet wet... or... you can get in and see what's out there and go snorkeling! Passing, Spectating, Wading, or... Overlapping. This is the key to everything!He then lays out the "recipe" of 11 steps on how to do this. These include: opening up, valuing, empathizing, relishing, letting go, attending, participating, getting close (proximity,) intensity, netting (gathering) and giving. Each of these ideas gets a lot of space in the book for what exactly it entails with lots and lots of concrete and practical ways you can add overlapping to your life.And everything is so thoroughly researched and referenced. With lots of stories and pictures to illustrate it all. It's amazing.At some points I did think... but this is too hard! And what if I struggle to do stuff like this? And then he addresses those worries and concerns and encourages us all to get out of our comfort zone and live life. It's very inspiring and upbeat and awesome.And you might wonder what he means by living things, so he devotes a part of the book giving a detailed list on how he defines this. It's obviously people in our lives (and not just people we know of course, but strangers as well... talk to them!) but pets, ourselves, wisdom (literature and arts and music,) food, and nature. All considered living!I really enjoyed the experience of reading this book and hope others trying to figure out life and how to enjoy it more will discover it and give some of these strategies a try. There's A LOT to take in, but I think if we can do it just a little at time, and work on something day by day... we can do it!

This book was amazing. We got assigned to read it in a marketing class and I loved it. He writes the book in such an intimate way that allowed me to relate to him and my struggle to be happy. I’m a strong advocate for self improvement and bettering oneself and this book has helped me tremendously. I just liked the way that he was vulnerable with his own experiences and shortcomings in being happy and how after each section he provides activities to reflect on what was read and how it relates to myself. This helped me resonate with what I’ve read and apply it to my own life. Definitely a good investment

This book can be life transforming. I’m in my senior years but have found so much wisdom in Dr. Petersen’ recipe for happiness. I am so much more aware of how to increase my joy and feel more vitality in living! You are never too old to embrace all life has to offer with more meaning. I love the personal examples and stories and well researched practices presented in the book. Doing writing and pondering his questions at the end of each chapter has resulted in margins full of personal notes to help me learn how to overlap! Highly recommend!

Dr. Petersen has taken the best research, some will be familiar to fans of positive psychology, and connected it to his main thesis that life needs to interact with life to thrive and gain vitality. A lot of us feel almost instinctively that we need to get outdoors, but this is more than just an invitation to go outside. This is about how to really suck the marrow out of life as we learn to pay attention and savor the beautiful things in the world.Highly enriching if you’re reading just for yourself. But very timely and relevant if you’re a parent, teacher or manager.

I’ve been very interested in the field of positive psychology and I’m excited to read this new addition to the field. I’ve preordered my copy and can’t wait to mark up its pages. I’ve met Dr. Petersen and every time I get to speak with him about psychology I always learn something new that adds value to my life. I hope this book becomes widely read, as I truly think it will offer real valuable insights and skill building towards an increase of happy, joyful, purpose driven living for countless people. Thank you for putting out your work for us to read, Dr. Trevor Petersen!